Yoga, a step forward for you

Many people are very busy and barely have time for anything at all. Wake up in the morning go to school/work, after an eight hour day come home catch up on chores or make dinner, in the late evening prepare for the next day.

Making time for yourself is very important, just a short break from the fast track lives we live will do us some good for today and in the future. Yoga can help accomplish a stress reliever from daily lives.

Yoga consists of many aspects to relieve stress, make you more aware of your body and the condition your body is in, and helps live your daily life.

In yoga, students learn many poses. Some popular poses are the downward facing dog, child's pose, corpse pose and warrior. All the poses are in Sanskrit and are called Asana. Sanskrit is the ancient language of India; students will become very familiar with these poses.

Not only will students learn poses but also breathing techniques; this is called Pranayama. Pranayama focuses on having control of the breathing techniques learned through yoga.

A very known and used Pranayama is Ujjayi. Ujjayi is a victorious breath and sounds almost like the ocean or a strong wind.

Not only will students get the benefit of a work out through stretches and poses but also meditation. As your body is toning through yoga, meditation is the key to reliving stress. Carrying out to the real world the Pranayama learned will help with frustration or any tension a person might be feeling. Taking a step to slow down and focus on your breathing is an underrated relaxation technique. Yoga teaches how to accomplish this.

Savasana is the final resting pose, corpse pose. With this pose the body is so relaxed and at this point very meditated, it's hard not to fall asleep.

Surya Namaskar can be used for meditation or to get energy. Surya Namaskar is the very famous sun salutation. If done at a slow pace the body will relax. Also, if done fast paced the body will feed off energy.

"I love yoga it makes my body feel so relaxed and gets my mind off of things that are stressing me out at times. The stetches that we do feel so good and the techniques we do in class makes' you look at things outside in a different perspective." Said Rio Hondo student Monique Matanga.

Mantaga also stated how yoga has changed her, "my body feels relaxed and I feel careless, that's how it changed me. I have recommended it to my best friends that have stress and want their body to feel relaxed; most of my guy friends take yoga too, they love it!"

For first time yogis, the poses and stretches might be a bit difficult, however yoga is about concentration and doing everything step-by-step. Reaching a certain pose might take longer for some, howevever, staying relaxed is key. As stated on yogaarticle.com "the whole yoga practice will come to you."

Yoga is recommended to everyone. The body and soul becomes connected while practicing the yoga poses. If you're looking for a good work out or just to relieve stress enroll to PE 158 over the summer and/or fall. Namaste!